Chief Chris Ejike Uche (aka Dimkpaasa) is not a small fish when it comes to national and political party politics, since the commencement of the present political dispensation, he served All Progress Grand Alliance (APGA) as State Auditor, Vice Chairman – South East, Deputy National Chairman, double portfolio Commissioner under Governor Rochas Okorocha Rescue Mission Administration of Imo State and today, the Deputy National Chairman of United Progressives Party (UPP), the Arondizogu in Ideato North Council Area of Imo State born visionary Politician after several weeks of intensive tracking spoke to, EVEREST EZIHE in Owerrri on critical national issues including his party‘s efforts to wrestle power from APC and PDP in 2019.
Uche explained the rationale why he and some of his top leader members in APGA resolved to dump APGA and co- traveled with Chief Chekwas Okorie’s UPP. He explained that he was not a political bedmate with Okorie whom he calls Oje ozi Igbo (The messenger for the Ibos) but now Oje ozi Nigeria (The messenger for Nigerians) and recalled that Okorie was also one of the founding fathers of APGA. In fact, he is the founder of APGA that he and his cohorts decided to merge with UPP due impunity, bureaucratic and undemocratic processes leadership of APGA engulfed into the party. That APGA for several years now has been enmeshed with series of litigations. To him, no serious minded person or a serious politician will like to stay with such political platform that is noted for instability and crises ridden. That as he is speaking APGA is still in court over who is an authentic factional leadership of the party even when Anambra State General election is just a few months to come. To him, it is obvious that such political platform is not serious and cannot win an election under crises and litigations. He was emphatic that in the forthcoming election in Anambra State that APGA will certainly loose the election to any serious minded political party. Insisting that Anambra State is a mini- Nigeria and a true test of political relevance considering the kind of political big wigs and party chieftains that hail from that state. That in Anambra State political heavyweights and money bags are in quantum but ironically, APGA leadership is busy fighting and raping democratic processes. That his mission in politics was to patriotically serve his people and contribute to their positive transformation and development but while in APGA, he was allegedly surrounded by retrogressive forces and selfish minded men, thus he disassociated himself from the party, despite the height he attained as a Deputy National Chairman. He was emphatic that the impunity made him and others took the party to court, the contest was the unjust denial of him to be the National Chairman of the party even when the party’ constitutional provision offers him that. He expressed dismay that he lost the case on a technicality and alleged corruption of the judiciary but expressed confidence that President Muhammadu Buhari has restored sanity and discipline in the Judiciary. That following the unjust loss of the case that the whole 18 members of APGA Central Working Committee (CWC) out of 24 that were with him started to look for an alternative political party, that has general all acceptability in outlook and progressive tendency in action. They critically dissected that manifestoes of all the political parties then and noted the one that is realistically progressive, after the savvy, himself, the then National Chairman North ALH. Salihu
He was emphatic that in the forthcoming election in Anambra State that APGA will certainly loose the election to any serious minded political party. Insisting that Anambra State is a mini- Nigeria and a true test of political relevance considering the kind of political big wigs and party chieftains that hail from that state. That in Anambra State political heavyweights and money bags are in quantum but ironically, APGA leadership is busy fighting and raping democratic processes. That his mission in politics was to patriotically serve his people and contribute to their positive transformation and development but while in APGA, he was allegedly surrounded by retrogressive forces and selfish minded men, thus he disassociated himself from the party, despite the height he attained as a Deputy National Chairman. He was emphatic that the impunity made him and others took the party to court, the contest was the unjust denial of him to be the National Chairman of the party even when the party’ constitutional provision offers him that. He expressed dismay that he lost the case on a technicality and alleged corruption of the judiciary but expressed confidence that President Muhammadu Buhari has restored sanity and discipline in the Judiciary. That following the unjust loss of the case that the whole 18 members of APGA Central Working Committee (CWC) out of 24 that were with him started to look for an alternative political party, that has general all acceptability in outlook and progressive tendency in action. They critically dissected that manifestoes of all the political parties then and noted the one that is realistically progressive, after the savvy, himself, the then National Chairman North ALH. Salihu
That following the unjust loss of the case that the whole 18 members of APGA Central Working Committee (CWC) out of 24 that were with him started to look for an alternative political party, that has general all acceptability in outlook and progressive tendency in action. They critically dissected that manifestoes of all the political parties then and noted the one that is realistically progressive, after the savvy, himself, the then National Chairman North ALH. Salihu Masara, the Deputy National Chairman South-South – Chief Sunday Obasoro, the Deputy National Chairman South West, the North Central National Chairman Dr. Jega from Plateau, the Deputy National Welfare Officer Mrs. Chinyere Okeke, we pulled our structures and held a meeting with the national leadership of UPP, they welcomed theme and accepted their merger proposal considering the quality of people that APGA brought to merge with theme. That acceptance was whole-hearted. Some people made mistake by saying APGA Joined UPP, no an indomitable faction of APGA merged with UPP. Therefore, that they left APGA because it does not guarantee political hope to any Igbo man or woman as will as the ethnic minority in Nigeria that is equally marginalized. Obviously, not only the Ibos that are marginalized in Nigeria, most of the ethnic minority that lays the golden eggs are also marginalized, be it the Ijaw people or the Itsikiri, the Southern Kaduna, even Urhobos and many others, once you are in the Southern province, you are a product of gross marginalization. UPP stands for the protection of the marginalized Nigerians, restoring their hope and confidence in governance through good, purposeful and responsive leadership. It is only UPP that is the political platform that its manifesto deals with serious political issues that deserve national attention like restructuring through federalism, revenue allocation, Federal Character and other sensitive issues that have strangulated the Nation’s politics are the focal points of UPP Manifesto. The manifesto is attractive to progressive elements in the country and when implemented, Nigerians will enjoy genuine transformation and governance.
UPP stands for the protection of the marginalized Nigerians, restoring their hope and confidence in governance through good, purposeful and responsive leadership. It is only UPP that is the political platform that its manifesto deals with serious political issues that deserve national attention like restructuring through federalism, revenue allocation, Federal Character and other sensitive issues that have strangulated the Nation’s politics are the focal points of UPP Manifesto. The manifesto is attractive to progressive elements in the country and when implemented, Nigerians will enjoy genuine transformation and governance.
Considering the nation’s present socio- economic woes and ripples of crises hibernating in PDP and APC, Dimkpaasa said that UPP has the Midas touch to salvage the nation in 2019, according to him “I have a historical observation that the quality of party leadership determine the character, the vision, and mission of the political party, strong political leadership determines the focus of governance.”
He further recalled that “during the nation’s earliest political dispensation, when credible people piloted the affairs of political parties, the issue of good governance is guaranteed but when the people allowed Urchins, criminals, 419ners, hoodlums and other people of questionable characters to hijack party politics, what do you expect? Fraud, dictatorship, impunity, imposition, greed and deceit become the hallmark of politics. These dishonest politicians will acquire power through due process as they collected nomination forms from political parties and fill it, submit it, pass through primaries and become a candidate under due process, stand for election which is a due process, swore in as a President, Governor or Legislator which is another due process and become a beneficiary of due process only to climb the ladder of leadership and say he does not believe in due process, for instance, Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State who is a beneficiary of due process but once he assumed the mantle of leadership, he started preaching against due process. Is this not Ironical? Who are you deceiving? You think you can pull wool over people’s eye? You think you are smart? People are watching, one thing certain is that Eldorado is not forever. One day, it will come to pass. Some other people have been Governors in Imo State and you think you are too fast. One day Okorocha’s Governance will be a forgotten issue, was Achike Udenwa not a Governor? Was Ikedi Ohakim, not a Governor? Are they not alive today and faces the realities of life?”
Uche who was a pioneer Super Commissioner for Housing and Urban Planning and later shifted to Ministry of Public Utilities of Governor Rochas Okorocha Rescue Mission administration said he resigned from the plum job as a Commissioner due to undue interferences, high-handedness, funds starvation and encouragement of mediocrity. That he left so that his age long credibility and reputation will remain intact “I don’t want to be part of the sinking ship”
Uche insisted he was abinitio a forerunner in Governor Okorocha’s Government but he has to leave to save his name and integrity which he said he garnered while working with NITEL and Intercellular private telecom company for years at top management level, to him “the more intelligent and educated you are in Rochas Okorocha’s administration the more you are rejected like a leper, the government is in love with nonentities.”
However, despite the infrastructural transformation and developmental revolution achieved by Governor Rochas Okorocha, this his one-time commissioner and strong political ally is seeing it as a growth and not development. For him, “if you are an Army General and you went to war with 5,000 soldiers and lost 4,500 in a battle even though you won the war but the level of casualties, it is obvious that the war is as good as lost.
The Governor has opened all the roads in Owerri Capital Territory and its environ without any reciprocal action with the rural roads which is the hallmark of development.” A hallmark of serious socio-economic activities and make governance more beneficial to the populace “That Governor Okorocha’s developmental plans are strategically located and concentrated for window dressing and not for majority need oriented”
Uche further lamented that all his efforts to ensure functional public utilities and flow of water to homes while a commissioner was sabotaged by the power that hired him, while taking a swipe on the State Government comprehensive free education both in the primary , secondary and tertiary education, to him “free education is not what Imo People wants now as statistics have shown that the state is educationally worsted off since the inception of the state free education scheme, we need revolution in agriculture through mechanized rural farming, we need cottage industries to create employment and produce quality goods and services”
The astute politician who said he is an Economist by training and profession insisted that development of rural areas should be the catalyst for meaningful development as rural-urban migration will reduce and the town will be automatically depopulated while economic activities will be steered up in rural areas. To him, “this is visionary, futuristic and good governance.”
He observed also that despite the opening of roads in Owerri Capital; territory that pipe borne water is an illusion. That diversification of developmental projects in rural areas would have been hallmark of serious socio-economic activities and make governance more beneficial to the populace “That Governor Okorocha’s developmental plans are strategically located and concentrated for window dressing and not for majority need oriented”
Uche further lamented that all his efforts to ensure functional public utilities and flow of water to homes while a commissioner was sabotaged by the power that hired him, while taking a swipe on the State Government comprehensive free education both in the primary , secondary and tertiary education, to him “free education is not what Imo People wants now as statistics have shown that the state is educationally worsted off since the inception of the state free education scheme, we need revolution in agriculture through mechanized rural farming, we need cottage industries to create employment and produce quality goods and services”
That Federal Government through Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme has already given free education from Primary to Junior Secondary School (JSS-3), that if people are working and Government made life easy, that the people can afford to pay their children or wades schools fees with ease and standard of education in the state will be high. To him, under the state free education program, most of the students are half-baked as they allegedly can not spell their names or write a simple letter. More so, that the school buildings are in dilapidation conditions while hundreds of thousands of graduates from the state are jobless.
The political oracle also noted that since he joined UPP as the Deputy National Chairman that many politicians of note have embraced the party. To him, he has so many followers and associates as the State Auditor of APGA and that he made so many politicians relevant when he was the South East Deputy National Chairman of APGA and later the party Deputy National Chairman and all these years that he has remained focus as a bridge builder and in maintaining the relationship. Thus why many politicians who believed in him have joined UPP in their Thousands. That his political success is due to his transparency, result oriented and consistency in serving the people. To him, “the truth is that have taken away all the people that believed in me politically from APGA to UPP and for now UPP is the party to watch in the entire South East”.
On the issues of economic woes and the sufferings, Nigerians are subjected to and assumed by providence UPP is at the head of governmental affairs, how the party will handle it. The party chairman sees the nation problem as Multi-dimensional that deserves good economic policies that would have been anchored by experts no matter their party leaning or apolitical. That the economic policy will be aimed at creation of middle manpower and bridging the gap between the rich and poor while expressing dismay that in Nigeria there is no middleman power economy, that the economy is so fashioned that, it is either you are very rich or very poor thus the gap between the poor and rich is so widened. That as an economic and political prophet he has observed that those who are rich are not by a mere instinct of hard work but by corruption as they have opportunities of mismanaging the Nation’s paternal wealth.
That most Nigerians who are extremely wealthy have no identifiable means of livelihood but were only opportune to administer our commonwealth which they often selfishly mismanaged to their advantage. Recently you can imagine the kind of money people are being asked to refund, it is simply scandalous that his party will establish sound economic policies that will cushion the effect of the economic woes, the recession should be a business of those in the government and not the masses. The party will liberalize governance, governance should not be an exclusive right of the party that won the election. We must borrow a cue from American presidential system in which both the Republican, the Democrats and other members of political parties constitutes the Government in the overall interest of the nation and the masses at large. Nigerians must jettison winners takes it all syndrome. We need professionals, experts, technocrats, bureaucrats etc to guarantee good governance. It is unfair for only members of APC to constitute Government even if most of their members are wood or dead people. To him “Non-inconclusive governance is the major bane of the Nation’s growth and developmental plans” That UPP will use Nigerian Professionals to address its economic and political problems no matter their political affiliation and emphasis must be on middle-level manpower creation and bridging the gap between the poor and the rich.
That if I may recall PMB statement during his presidential inauguration speech, he said “I am for everybody and for nobody” the implication is the adoption of all inconclusive governance despite party leaning. It is pertinent he incorporates professionals from outside his party-APC to tackle the nitty-gritty of Governance and the economic recession.
The economy must protect indigenous manufacturers and entrepreneurs. The Nation have no reason importing petroleum products. During the civil war, the Ibos were refining Petroleum Products what happened to those technologies? We have no reason spending billions of Dollars to build or maintain refineries that are not working while under liberalization economy small cottage refineries will emerge, there will be job and wealth creations that would also satisfy our products needs. The oil cable will not allow these because it is not beneficial to them. We must look inwards and de-emphasis foreign things. Nobody will ever transfer their technology to you. It is not done. it is simply a mirage, we must maximize our capacity. Uche insisted these as the only way forward for the Nation. He recalled that in late 70’s when Alhaji Aminu Kano (now late) was the presidential candidate of Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) that he promised to turn Aba (Enyimba City) to Taiwan of Africa considering the people’s indigenous expertise in Manufacturing and fabrication. That to him (Uche) is a good economic vision. He commended the National Assemblies for their recent advocacy asking people to patronize locally made goods, to him again, it is another hub of good economic policy that could address the recession.
He also sees as an aberration for somebody to be chairman of a political party for ten years and yet des not want to vacate the position as constitution stated, for him” It is funny because there will be imposition of candidates but for UPP a level playing ground must be given in the conduct of primaries”.
Uche further said that Chief Chekwas Okorie as the founder of UPP has been in politics for over 40 years and has not driven any government vehicle nor any contract being awarded to him, that UPP is the only Political Party in Nigeria that is not bedeviled by factionalization, intrigues internal wrangling and back biting, every other political party in Nigeria today is enmeshed in one crisis or the other.
That UPP is focused and determined to take over power in 2019. If you recall, in 2014 I granted press interview during the early formation of APC, I said that “APC is constituted by political strange fellows” you have progressives there, that is people coming from Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari CPC, they are progressives cum dictators, then you have ACN that are political bourgeois, you see, the mega party was formed without concrete ideology and this is the bedrock of their crisis and failure “he pointed out. To him also, UPP is a Party with ideology and most of the political Parties in Nigeria have no ideology because party politics is based on ideology which gives you the latitude to differentiate between Lucifer and the devil, unfortunately most members of these political parties are ignorant of their party ideology, for instance does APGA has free education in their manifesto? Emphatically no! why then, did Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State introduced free education while piloting APGA led Government. Is he superior to the party? of course yes, even as the reverse should be the case under genuine democratic practice. If the Party is in control of what the Governor does, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has no business initiating free education policy. If you are a Governor and came with a policy that is inconsistent with the party manifesto and ideology, the party will definitely ask you to drop it and you shouldn’t have any objection. This is democracy in action. The party is supreme. Unfortunately, in most cases of these political parties the elected candidates are doing what they like, it then means that the political parties are not in control but this will certainly not happen in UPP so far Chief Chekwas Okorie remains the party National Chairman and me, Chief Chris Uche (Dimkpa-asaa) is the Deputy National Chairman.
One thing certain the political oracle again assured is the willingness of his party to take over the government of Imo State and Nigeria in 2019 noting members of UPP as tested and trusted politicians, that they are people without blemish.